Have you ever woken up to realize that you don’t like a single item in the 17-drawer makeup collection you own? Or perhaps you’ve come to grips with the fact that your total of six makeup products just isn’t cutting it anymore? If either case applies, you might be suffering from makeup defeat – you’ve lost all control of what’s useful and what’s not. You have 3-year-old blush and a brand new brush set, but you have no idea how to use either or whether you need any of it. Not to fret; we here at BeautyNewsNYC know just the sort of advice you need and we went straight to the source of it to relay it to you.

Emily Kate Warren at work backstage with model Ana Betriz

If there’s anyone who can tell us what’s essential to makeup application, it’s the pros. Makeup artists Emily Kate Warren and Michael DeVellis told us about a few products they find vital to their jobs, and hopefully by hearing what they need, you’ll learn what you need to conquer the makeup match once and for all.

According to DeVellis, the one thing that no makeup artist can leave out of their kit is confidence. With that, s/he will have the ability to choose products effectively and understand what they’re all about.

DeVellis fell in love with makeup while working for MAC in the ’90s and has since branched out to form The Powder Group, an artist resource and event production company. In his expert opinion, anyone can buy good-quality makeup products if they know what they’re looking for.

“Makeup is all basically liquids, creams and powders in different forms with different qualities and amounts of various ingredients,” he said. “Learn everything you can about product and tools, the way they are made, what they are made of, what the ingredients do. By understanding the core of the products you are buying, you can make good decisions about product purchases regardless of what you can afford to spend.”

However, DeVellis said that if there’s one product to spend the extra dollars on, its skin care and foundations. “The better condition your skin is, the more moist and healthy the texture, the better your makeup will apply and be maintained,” he said. “If you top healthy, moisturized skin with a great foundation you are starting with a perfect, beautiful canvas which makes the rest of the makeup look that much more beautiful.”

“Everyone has their favorite for each type of product, often based on where they have gotten great service or have found a product they fell in love with. Artists are definitely drawn to lines like MAC, Make Up For Ever, Three Custom Color and many others whose packaging, programs and services make it easy to find, purchase and work with the products.”

Emily Kate Warren also had some good advice about how to spend a makeup budget on worthwhile products. After spending about five years as a beauty editor for publications like O! The Oprah Magazine and CosmoGIRL! she decided to branch out on her own this year. The now solely-freelance makeup artist and writer revealed a few of the concepts and products that make her life easier. Her first tip about essential makeup tools is to find a good concealer.

“Every single person needs to have a little concealer, even if the person has beautiful skin,” she said. “Everyone has a little bit of a different color on the skin under their eyes because it’s thinner skin, so I always start by wiping the face clean, applying moisturizer and then concealer. For myself, if I only applied two things in the morning they would be concealer and mascara.”

Warren said that because there are so many colors out there, it’s hard to recommend a particular product when looking for a good-quality concealer. But one of her failsafe brands lately has been Estee Lauder. Their Double Wear Stay in Place Concealer has an SPF 10 which Warren said provides wrinkle protection – a great addition to the already worthy product. “It dries from a cream to a powder and never looks oily,” she said. “A lot of other concealers have to be set with powder.”

She also likes using Kevyn Aucoin’s Sensual Skin Enhancer. “The pot will last you your whole life,” she said. “If it doesn’t, you’re putting too much on.”

As for mascara, Warren raves about Maestro from Armani. “It’s awesome,” she said. “Every single day I wear it someone asks me if I’m wearing eyelash extensions.”